Shipping Out
by Annaleise Marie
Summary: The all had their own reasons for joining up, but on September 11, 2001, everything changed. Now, they're on the front lines, and everyone's paying the price, from the soldiers to the wives to the children. /complete summary inside/


**Shipping Out  
**by Annaleise Marie

**Summary**: The all had their own reasons for joining, but on September 11, 2001, everything changed. Now, they're on the front lines, and everyone's paying the price, from the soldiers to the wives to the children. For all of them, the line between life and death just became very real. They'll have to be each other's anchors, and the reason for each of them to fight to survive. In times like these, family is the only thing that matters. AU/AH, canon pairings.

**Chapter One**: Different Factors, Same Effects: Part I

**AN**: So I know I still have "Asthenia" going on right now, and I promise I'm not abandoning that, but I had this idea pop into my head and try as I might, I can't ignore it. It was, in fact, distracting me as I tried to write the next chapter of Asthenia. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Just a quick note, to suit my purposes, Edward and Emmett are brothers (Cullen), and Rosalie and Jasper are siblings (Hale). Alice's maiden name is Brandon and Bella's maiden name is Swan. I tried to keep it as canon as possible, but I'm aware that Emmett's last name was technically McCarty and and Jasper... well, I can't remember his last name, but yeah. Excuse me for bending these facts a bit.

Oh, also, I own a couple really heavy books for my courses, but none of them are Twilight. Stephanie Meyer owns that. Unfortunately. If I did, I'd be out enjoying my profits, not sitting at my computer writing fanfiction.

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**December 25, 2000**

Bella Cullen carefully ascended the stairs to the large wrap-around porch, keeping a careful eye on the ice as she gripped the handrail tightly. It would be just like her to fall and smack her face on the wooden slats or something. She wished that Alice and Jasper would have decided to live on post, where the roads and walks were better maintained, but at the same time she couldn't blame them. She and Edward _had_ to live on base, in the standard-issue, cookie cutter-style two bedroom house. As a ranking officer, however, Alice and Jasper could live off base. It was a stupid rule, one of the many things about the military that just didn't make sense to Bella but well, rules were rules. It was something you grew to accept as an Army wife.

The Hale household was gorgeous, two stories, four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, and enough closet space to satisfy even Alice, with a big front porch and a small balcony off of the master bedroom. It was a little too much for Bella's taste but she would admit that she wished she could find a house with a little more character than the houses on post.

Finally managing to shuffle her way up to the front door, she struggled to balance the Tupperware container in one hand as she rang the bell. A few moments passed, and then she heard the light clicking of heels that announced Alice's arrival. The door was pulled open and a warm gust of air hit Bella's face, stinging her chilled cheeks.

"Bella!" Alice laughed, her face lighting up. "You know you don't have to ring the bell, come in."

She stood aside to let Bella enter, and Bella marveled at how little Alice had changed since she had met her in her freshman year of college. Alice was a few years older than her, despite her appearance, and had been the president of their sorority, Sigma Kappa. They had grown close, and when Alice married Jasper a year later, Bella met Edward Cullen at their wedding. Everything had kind of slid into place after that.

"What is that?" Alice asked, eying the Tupperware container. "I told you that you didn't have to bring anything."

"Pumpkin pie," Bella answered.

"I love you," Alice squealed, leading Bella into the kitchen. Esme was already there, chopping carrots at the Formica island.

"Hello Bella," Esme said, smiling kindly.

"Hey," Bella answered before turning her attention to Alice. "Alice, you invite us over for Christmas dinner and then you put my mother-in-law to work?"

"Don't look at me, she just came in and..." Alice trailed off, shrugging. "How do you stop the world from spinning?"

Esme laughed and shook her head, turning to wash the knife before returning it to its place in the knife block. "So, Bella, where's my son? You didn't finally get sick of him and run away, did you?" she teased.

"He's stuck at work for a bit, he should be here in about an hour," Bella answered, taking a seat on one of the kitchen stools. "Where's the General?"

"Oh, he and Jasper went into the study about an hour ago," Alice said, opening a bottle of wine and pulling glasses from a cabinet. "We might not see them for a few days. They're 'talking strategy'."

"What strategy is there to talk about these days? There's no war going on," Bella scoffed.

"It's _highly secret _and _strictly confidential_, according to Carlisle," Esme said.

"The General's a doctor, it's not like he's going to be storming any territories or anything," Alice said.

"I'm a soldier too, you know," a deep voice sounded from the doorway. The girls whipped around to see Carlisle and Jasper coming into the kitchen.

"Carlisle, did you know that Edward's working today?" Esme asked, her brow furrowed.

"Yes," Carlisle answered, taking the wine glass that Alice held out to him.

"It's Christmas!" she said.

"The world doesn't stop because it's Christmas," Carlisle said.

"I thought most government workers got the holidays off," Esme said.

"General Cullen and Major Hale do," Bella clarified. "Private Cullen and the rest of his infantry, do not." The words came out sharper than she intended them to, and she bit her lip guiltily, keeping her eyes downcast.

"Sorry Bella, it's just the way the military is," Jasper said. "We all had to pay our dues. We just did it before we got married."

"Yeah, I know, it's just hard," Bella said, sighing. "He was in Basic last Christmas and now he's working."

"He'll be by later, it's not like he's all the way in Fort Benning," Alice chirped, setting a glass of wine down in front of Bella.

"I know, I'm just sulking," Bella said, shrugging and tracing her finger over the rim of the glass.

"I was in Basic over Valentines the year Alice and I met," Jasper said. "And Emmett was in over New Years. Rosalie ignored him for a week when he got back, and then told him that he wasn't there to kiss at midnight, so they wouldn't make it through the year together, so they might as well just give up then."

"Wow," Bella said, shaking her head. "So how are they still together?"

"Well, you know Emmett," Alice said with a laugh. Just then, the front door opened and closed and a second later Emmett and Rosalie entered the kitchen with their daughter, Emily.

"Speak of the devil," Jasper announced.

"Hear that Rose? They're talking about you," Emmett said, sitting Emily down, who immediately ran to Alice. Rosalie cast a glance at Emily to make sure that she was preoccupied with Alice and then hit Emmett lightly over the back of the head.

"So, anyway, back to the story," Jasper continued. "Emmett stalked her."

"You must be exaggerating," Bella laughed.

"Not at all," Rosalie answered. "For two months, I couldn't go anywhere without him being there. He was there when I was going to my dorm, leaving it, going to classes, going to the store, studying in the library... I half expected to wake up and catch him watching me sleep."

"You make it sound so much creepier than it was," Emmett defended.

"It _was _creepy. Here Alice and I were just starting to settle down, and all of a sudden I'm getting calls from my sister every night, talking about this guy who's following her around," Jasper said, smirking. "Of course, she failed to mention that he was the same guy who got her pregnant."

"So you were pregnant during all of this?" Bella asked, laughing.

"Four months when he came back from Basic, six when he was finally done stalking me," Rosalie answered.

"I was just keeping an eye on the mother of my child," Emmett said, shrugging. "I mean, I joined up when I found out she was pregnant so that I could provide for the two of them, I wasn't about to let her just walk off."

"How very admirable," Jasper said tensely. It was always a tense spot when he heard that someone had joined the military for a reason other than to "protect and serve".

"It's not a scholarship program, and it's not a job; it's a way of life," he would say.

But although they all led the same lives to an extent, they were all there for different reasons. Carlisle joined the Army because, being born the year after the resolution of World War II, he grew up hearing stories of the war, and the bravery of the soldiers, and decided that he wanted to be the next great hero. He went to medical school while enlisted, and has been serving as a doctor on base ever since.

Two years after Emmett joined, Edward graduated college with a mountain of debt in student loans. He joined the Army both to pay off those loans and to support his new life with Bella, and any future children.

Two years later, Rosalie enlisted as an interpreter when Emily entered preschool. She wanted something to do, since she was no longer needed as a housewife. Having majored in English in college, and taken a total of eight years of French between high school and college, translator was an obvious choice.

Jasper joined before all three of them. It had always been his plan to devote his life to serving his country. He rose quickly through the ranks, and by the time he married Alice, three years after he enlisted, he had achieved the rank of Captain.

Bella let her mind wander as the conversation turned to idle chatter, keeping an ear out for the sound of the door signaling Edward's arrival.

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**AN**: Thank you for reading. Reviews are very, very much appreciated and I reply to everything. :3


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